***Space Thread***

[Dead & Messed Up]

The most probable answer so far is a displaced cloud of comets, which would be awesome.

But the idea of an alien civilization that's built part of a Dyson sphere is mind-blowing.

[megladon8]

I'm having issues posting links via my phone, but make sure to read the legit articles before preparing to greet our new Alien Overlords.

Huh? The few places I've seen it have been pretty legit sites.

[Spinal]

Huh? The few places I've seen it have been pretty legit sites.

From reading the Atlantic article, my understanding is that they know something strange is going on and that an alien civilization would be one potential explanation for that. However, there's really no evidence at this point and intelligent life remains unlikely. Like DaMU said, it's more likely some unusual natural phenomenon, which would still be pretty cool.

[megladon8]

Even if the we were to find evidence that an advanced civilization once existed (but is long gone), I would be able to die fulfilled.

I just can't fathom us having been/being the only planet to ever have life.

[Spinal]

Even if the we were to find evidence that an advanced civilization once existed (but is long gone), I would be able to die fulfilled.

It would be amazing!

[Dukefrukem]

That moving dot you see in the picture above may not seem like much at first glance, but it's a pretty big deal -- it's humanity's closest-ever look at an object in the Solar System's distant Kuiper Belt. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft recently caught 1994 JR1 on camera from "just" 170 million miles away, or 15 times closer than any Kuiper Belt object has been seen before. That's no mean feat when the celestial body is a whopping 3.3 billion miles away from the Sun, putting it beyond Pluto's current position and into the realm of even tinier dwarf planets like Haumea and Makemake.

[[ETM]]

SpaceX is about to launch a satellite and then take another shot at landing the Falcon 9 rocket on a barge in the ocean. These are some pretty awesome space times we're alive in.

[Dukefrukem]

These are some pretty awesome space times we're alive in.

I guess but I'd like them to start doing some stuff in space soon.

[[ETM]]

I guess but I'd like them to start doing some stuff in space soon.

Perfecting a cheap, reliable and reusable orbital delivery system is a HUGE step towards that.

[Dukefrukem]

Landing failed, so I guess we're gonna be waiting longer.

[[ETM]]

For what? They already landed it on land. The payload was delivered to orbit perfectly. Even this rocket landed almost spot on, but they think one of the "legs" failed to lock in, so it tipped over. I'm guessing next time it will work perfectly - let's wait till February 6th for that.

[Dukefrukem]

Well... They need to be able to land it on the ocean... so... that's kind of a big step for reusable space vehicles.

[[ETM]]

Yeah, but it landed perfectly. I suppose it's easier to revisit the leg design than solve other issues that seem to now be solved completely.

[Dukefrukem]

Finally evidence of Planet X

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...ed-outer-space

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

Potential huge news incoming.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/165749...osed-tomorrow/

[Stay Puft]

It's happening:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ea...auri-1.3733882

[Morris Schæffer]

There is an article out there claiming fabled NASA propulsion engine may actually work, creating energy without an energy source. May get folks to Mars in 70 days! It's not quite official yet, but scientists are stumped claiming there's "something that has them puzzled".

[Dukefrukem]

I remember hearing about this years ago... From what I recall, it just means that the laws of physics that we understand today are incorrect. And if this device works, we basically need to reverse engineer it and find out why... Still exciting.

[Dukefrukem]

I find it fascinating that we may just now have discovered a ninth planet- 4 times the size of Earth, beyond Pluto.

Apparently it's orbit could be 20,000 years, which is why we have never had evidence of it before. In comparison, Pluto's orbit is 250 years.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunt-fo...cts-1491384684

[Dukefrukem]

I find it fascinating that we may just now have discovered a ninth planet- 4 times the size of Earth, beyond Pluto.

Apparently it's orbit could be 20,000 years, which is why we have never had evidence of it before. In comparison, Pluto's orbit is 250 years.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hunt-fo...cts-1491384684

[Dukefrukem]

Impressive.

[Dukefrukem]

Crazy.

[Skitch]

Thats nuts. They're nuts.

[Morris Schæffer]

Fascinating, there's a Belgian fella among them too.